Penal eyewitness: 'Justin had no gun when police shot him'

Justin Travis Pegus
Justin Travis Pegus

An eyewitness has disputed a police report on the killing of an 18-year-old Penal man.

The witness, who asked not to be named, did not see when police shot Justin Travis Pegus, but claimed to have "heard everything."

"Police said they found a gun.

"Justin had no gun on him. He was downstairs relaxing when police run inside, and police told him to lie down with his hands behind his back," the eyewitness told Newsday.

"The police put everyone out of the room.

"Justin was telling them he did not have a gun. He did not commit any crime. "

The shooting happened at a house at Penal Rock, Penal near Beckles Street around 9.45 pm. Also in the small wooden house were two adults and three children, seven, six and three.

Pegus moved into the house about five months ago and previously lived at Lowkie Trace in Penal. Also called Shortman and Doh Doh, he turned 18 on July 10.

"When he told police that people also called him Doh Doh, the policeman said, ‘That is all I wanted to hear.’

He was begging them to call his mother," the eyewitness said.

Photo courtesy TTPS

Police took Pegus to the Siparia district health facility, where he was declared dead.

They issued a media release saying officers had found a gun at the scene on Tuesday night.

Police from Penal CID and South Western Task Force reportedly received information that people had illegal guns and ammunition at the house. They went and searched the house.

The release said during the search, the officers saw a man, later identified as Pegus, sitting on a bed holding a gun.

PC Soogrim identified himself as a police officer and told the man to drop it.

But the man is said to have raised and pointed the gun at him. Fearing for his life, the policeman fired one shot at him.

The police then took the injured man to the health facility and seized the gun.

An autopsy is expected to be done at the Forensic Sciences Centre at St James.

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